SAMPA is a computer-readable phonetic script based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It was developed in the late 1980s in the European Commission-funded ESPRIT project 2589 Speech Assessment Methods (SAM) to facilitate email data exchange and computational processing of transcriptions in phonetics and speech technology.
SAM Phonetic Alphabets (SAMPA) have been developed for sounds in at least 27 languages.
The following is a concise SAMPA chart for English: SAMPA: English Consonants SAMPA Examples IPA pen, spit, lip bed, rib two, sting, bet do, odd better, matter (GenAm) chair, nature, teach gin, joy, edge cat, kill, skin, queen, thick go, get, beg fool, enough, leaf voice, have, of thing, breath this, breathe see, city, pass zoo, rose she, sure, emotion, leash pleasure, beige ham man, ham no, tin singer, ring left, bell run, very we yes what (some accents, such as Scottish) loch (Scottish)
SAMPA: English Vowels SAMPA Examples IPA RP GenAm AuE RP GenAm AuE father see city bed bird See bad–lad split for more discussion of this vowel in Australian and English English. lad, cat, ran arm run, enough not, wasp or See low back merger for more discussion of this vowel in North American English. law, caught or put soon, through about winner
SAMPA: English Diphthongs SAMPA Examples IPA RP GenAm AuE RP GenAm AuE or day or my boy or } no or now near, here hair, there tour pupil
SAMPA: Other symbols used in transcription of English pronunciation SAMPA Explanation IPA Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable), for example "happy" Secondary stress, for example "battleship" Syllable separator Syllabic consonant, for example for ridden
See also
International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects X-SAMPA